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The WWE Royal Rumble Premium Live Event took place on January 27th with considerable anticipation due to the potential for surprises. It not only lived up to expectations but also set records, but WWE filed a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to prevent the release of the Royal Rumble bidding contract.
According to Wrestlenomics, WWE filed a complaint on Feb. 16 against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to prevent the release of an agreement between WWE and the City of San Antonio. The contract’s release would potentially reveal information about what the city provided WWE in exchange for hosting the Royal Rumble event at the Alamodome in 2023. WWE argues that the agreement contains proprietary information and qualifies as a trade secret, exempting it from Texas’s public information law.
In April 2023, city officials received approval from the state Attorney General’s office to withhold the bidding contract. However, the Attorney General reversed this decision on Jan. 17, 2024. In a letter from Assistant Attorney General Michelle Garza, it was stated that WWE failed to provide specific factual evidence demonstrating that the information in question is confidential under Texas’s public information law.
Records related to the Royal Rumble 2023 event, including contracts involving the Alamodome, are subject to public records requests due to the venue’s ownership and operation by the city government. As one party in the contract is a government entity, such agreements typically fall under public record laws.
However, WWE contends that the bidding contract should be exempt from disclosure under Texas’s public information laws. They argue that the contract contains proprietary information that qualifies as a trade secret. Texas law defines a trade secret broadly, encompassing various forms of information, including business, scientific, technical, and financial data, among others, regardless of their tangible or intangible nature or how they are stored.
According to Brandon Thurston on Twitter, the Texas Attorney General’s office has not responded to defend against WWE’s lawsuit. WWE has taken action by moving for default judgment, indicating their request for a judgment in their favor due to the lack of response from the opposing party. A hearing has been scheduled for May 29 at 9 am, where WWE’s attorney and Judge Jan Soifer will discuss the default judgment.
This hearing will likely determine the outcome of the lawsuit in WWE’s favor if the default judgment is granted due to the absence of a response from the Texas Attorney General’s office. We’ll have to wait and see what will become of the lawsuit in the end.
Are you shocked to see why WWE would go to such a length to prevent the records being shown? Let us know in the comments section below!
